M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 15: Three people of Kouramin village under the Naudiha Bazar police station in Palamu are on the run following the lodging of a case against the trio under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Forester Arun Singh told lagatar24.com today that the three persons are Ravinder Singh, Bhola Ram and Manish Kumar of the Kouramin village against whom the has been lodged on July 14.
Ravinder Singh is accused of keeping a peacock illegally in his house for a long time. It is a serious offence as the peacock is a schedule 1 animal and it is the national bird of India.
This domesticated peacock of Ravinder Singh was wantonly killed by the two co-villagers identified as Bhola Ram and Manish Kumar.
“Our forest guards retrieved the carcass of the peacock and conducted an inquiry which led to Bhola Ram and Manish Kumar who have told other villagers that they had killed the peacock as it was damaging their brinjal and tomato veggies in fields,” said forester Arun Singh.
Now, all the three have gone into hiding.
The trio faces section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act which deals with the prohibition of hunting. Offences in the said act are straightway filed in the court of the chief judicial magistrate from where the legal course starts against the named or unidentified accused.
This is the first case of its kind when for the killing of a peacock three people are facing the heat of the Wildlife Protection Act.
According to the information, Ravinder Singh will have to explain to the court from where he had found or obtained the peacock or whether he ever informed the forest officials of this peacock in his captivity also.
The forest authority has to be informed about any wildlife in captivity as even though the domestication of fauna is not a violation of the law of forest, the owner of the fauna is to take care of it medically too.
Sources said there are episodes in Daltonganj when bird lovers have rescued birds in distress and nursed them for weeks together.
About two years ago, a girl in Daltonganj rescued a badly wounded bird called the cattle egret whose one leg was amputated and after fifteen days of treatment and one week of convalescing, this cattle egret was released to fly.
Recently in PTR, two men had saved eggs of peahens and with the help of their hens, they got the eggs incubated, resulting in 8 peachicks which were received by the ranger Tarun Kumar Singh.
